I’ll post more shortly; issues I’ve also run across include usability of the RV, entertainment, internet, sewage and water issues, weapon storage (forget about gun safes)… and the utter absence of privacy.

I’ll post more shortly; issues I’ve also run across include usability of the RV, entertainment, internet, sewage and water issues, weapon storage (forget about gun safes)… and the utter absence of privacy.

This always is a problem for married couples. (Privacy)
Hope you get that worked out, and it is a BIG consideration in SHTF for all of us.
Selco goes over these things in SHTF School

Welcome Breathial!
Great Post, will be keeping up with your updates!

"ROGUE ELECTRICIAN" Hoping to be around to re-energize the New World.....

OK, now I’m back on the computer instead of my phone, able to catch up. When you’re used to typing 70 words per minute on a keyboard, using the phone to respond is painfully slow and clumsy. So here goes.

Freedom: Do you have an family member that would lend you an area in there yard to add a storage container of some type? Maybe you can find somewhere out of the city that would lease a small area to put a container to store can foods and other items.

My nearest family (parents) are an 8-hour drive away, and think my prepper proclivities are bordering on insanity. As well, they definitely do NOT get along with my wife, so there’s no help there. The nearest friends I have that understand what I’m about are 1200 miles away. And while I’d prefer to be back up in the mountains of Idaho where I grew up (Sandpoint, to be precise), I’m in the technology industry, which means I’d starve there. So, I’m kind of stuck, unless or until I find a small out-of-the-way town to settle down in (keeping fingers crossed!). For a SHTF scenario that affects the region, I have enough fuel to travel 1000 miles without stopping, so I can vacate any particular area, provided I am smart enough to get out before things get too bad. To this end, I watch the news very carefully, and we can be on the road in six hours with pretty much everything. It’s is most certainly NOT the ideal situation, but it’s the best I’ve got, at this point.

Chester: “All the best in your next steps. Personal SHTF situations can be very challenging. Sounds like you are working the best plan you can under such fluid circumstances. You will be stronger for it.”

I think I mentioned in my bio when the site came online, I spent two years as a homeless guy on the streets. The situation isn’t particularly pleasant for me, but I’m dealing with it ok. My biggest regret is that in one way you could say that my foolish mistake has put my entire family on the street, but at least we’ve shelter, food, protection and sufficient money to keep us, if not in the lap of luxury, at least properly fed, healthy and safe. The toughest toll has been on my wife, who as a city girl never imagined such a life and such circumstances. But with her home city being an hours’ drive from the fighting in Ukraine, the perceived safety of her city is now called into question, as well as financial decisions with the western attack on the ruble. Being accustomed to either a large flat or even the house we just sold, she constantly complains about how “small” this is, even though it’s about the biggest motorhome you can buy, short of 40′ bus chassis. ALL of the other livability problems of the motorhome that I’ll mention, have weighed most heavily on her. The kids- 5 and 7 years of age- are quite resilient, and find some way to make things fun and entertaining (even though their idea of entertainment sometimes drives me crazy!).

Going back to the supply situation, the only reasonable solution for refueling (or taking on more water) is to have reserves at a site somewhere around 600-700 miles away (halfway to Idaho, if that’s where we end up going for a final SHTF destination). The best would be to have it in a rented storage facility- a small unit that can be accessed from the outside, with a couple of 55-gallon drums of diesel, food and whatever else we might need. OR, a small utility trailer with additional say four 55-gallon drums of diesel, SHTF food and water stores, etc. I can see no other options for a long-distance trip, running under the assumption that all hell has broken loose. IF an economic collapse occurs and assuming that fuel sales occur in either silver or cash, I’ll have enough to buy what I need, even if prices are outrageous. But if there simply is NO fuel available at any price, then a storage site seems my only remaining option.

Freedom: “Breathial, What about crossing from one state to another state with the weapons laws? You need to be careful.”

Absolutely. Right after we vacated the house, we were boondocking in a local Walmart. Another guy there started trying to pick a fight with the wife and I, got to the point where we were about to come to blows. His behavior is erratic, his face twitches, and he’s one of those guys who looks like he’s lived a HARD life of drugs and booze. I’ve no interest in a fight, and won’t take the chance of getting busted up for some stupid situation I’m simply trying to get out of. As the guy starts to move in, I back way off and pull a knife. Bullies will only attack when victory is assured, so he suddenly was not so hip on the idea of pressing forward with an attack. We pile into the motorhome, and leave. The knucklehead then decides to follow us in HIS RV, and it’s turned into a low-speed “chase,” if you can call it that. Now I have to make a choice; stop and confront this guy with whatever force is necessary to make him go away, or call the cops. I choose the latter. As I’m talking to the cops on the phone, I pull into a huge mall parking lot, and I’m creeping around the parking lots at 5 mph with this idiot still following…. If he stops to get out, we’ll leave. But he just keep following along, until the cops show up. I park, step out of the motorhome, lock the door. My wife stays inside with the now-sleeping kids. The cops search me, take my knife, we tell them our stories. Scum-bag tells them I pulled a knife on him, my wife (through the window) confirms my story. After a while, the cops tell me “we would have done the same thing.”

Now it gets even more weird: as those two cops leave and two new cops (whose jurisdiction the original confrontation occurred in) arrive, we go through the same thing. The cops are military vets like me, we discuss the whole story again, and then they tell me they’d have done the same thing. They then ask me if I have any firearms in the motorhome…………….? IF I say yes, then they’ll have probable cause to search my vehicle. If I say no, and they find some excuse to later search it, I’d be in trouble for lying to the police, and things suddenly get VERY complicated (including having my kids taken by CPS, where a lot of kids happen to die under questionable circumstances). My answer what, “what does that have to do with anything?” They say it’s for their own safety if they have to search my motorhome… then “we just need to know.” Finally, the one cop who’s determined to keep snooping says “you know, it IS your 2nd Amendment right to have guns…” To all of these answers I don’t even respond; I just keep my mouth shut. After 15 minutes of attempting to get SOME sort of answer from me where they can have an excuse to bust into my motorhome, they finally give up. They tell me they think the guy is not believable (and apparently he described my 3″ folding pocket knife as a Rambo blade or something). While brandishing a knife is considered a crime, they let it slide because I was defending myself. No citations issued. We went somewhere else, and finally went to bed, at 2 AM.

WHY do I tell this story? California law states that a moving vehicle, whether a car or an RV, requires specific storage measures for weapons. But when your RV is stationary, whether just sitting in it or sleeping, it falls under “Castle Doctrine” law. Because it’s very difficult to properly store weapons in an RV due to the inability to install a gun safe, you’re pretty much certain that you’re breaking the laws, at least in California. So the only defense against LEOs is to not give them ANY REASON to enter your vehicle. Driving an RV that has to scratch and claw its way to 65 MPH, you don’t have to worry about speeding tickets. Make sure your lights are all working properly, don’t do anything to raise attention to yourself, and the cops won’t even notice you… In other words, the only defense is to NOT look like someone interesting to them.

This dovetails into another aspect about the RV lifestyle that has really come home for me: new vs. old. Think of people that drive around in RVs that are 40 years old but look 80 years old (remember the one in the “Vacation” movies, driven by Randy Quaid? pic attached). If I were a cop, I’d find some reason to pull that sh!t-heap over… for a bad tail-light, or any excuse possible. WHY? But nobody but a complete dirt-bag would be caught DEAD in that. And dirt-bags who tend to ignore societal norms (like shame and embarrassment) will also tend to ignore laws. So having a heap like the one in the picture, would attract a lot of unwanted attention. On the other hand, a lot of people buy super-shiny new RVs, basically a “McMansion” on wheels. Fancy metallic paint-jobs, multiple slides, leather seating and gold plumbing fixtures. Now, while cops won’t generally mess with these rigs any more than they mess with a lawyer-type in a new Mercedes, such an RV would be a very enticing target for desperate people in search of money or food. So my RV- while not “sexy” like the new units costing $200-300k- looks presentable but does not say “I am a juicy target.” It basically says “this is an older RV owned by a nobody.” And nobodies generally don’t have a lot to steal.

“Nondescript” in as many ways as possible, is the goal here. Nothing that looks too flashy, or says “prepper,” such as we are….

Attachments:

Just re-reading the above post brings to mind another point about an RV: it’s NOT a vehicle you drive around on a regular basis. It’s a house on wheels, a smaller version of something you’d put in a trailer park. This means you’re NOT going to go shopping in it, take your kids to the water-slides or visit Starbucks for a Venti Pike coffee.

They’re miserable to drive around in, even when you know what you’re doing. Following GPS instructions, we’ve twice ended up on dead-end streets with no escape but to back out into potential traffic. Parking a 36′ bus is no fun even in a large empty parking lot like at Walmart or Home Depot; while you may have no problem getting in to a spot, other customers will invariably park in such a way that you simply can’t get out without trading paint. In that case, you have to wait.

They’re slow, and roll like a ship at sea when you drive over uneven pavement. They’re comfortable set up stationary, on level ground. If you’ve never driven a large motorhome, your first time will be an eye opener, as you discover they’re lumbering, clumsy and God-awful slow to accelerate or to stop. So don’t imagine you can use one as your all-around vehicle.

You need a runner vehicle, whether a motorcycle, small SUV or sedan. And that of course brings up new logistical problems. In my case, my wife injured her back during our move out of the house, and can’t drive more than an hour in the car before she’s in agony. She’s scared to death of driving the RV, even though the seats are comfortable; the sheer size is intimidating for her. We can’t tow the car on a dolly (due to its design), and a car trailer will be too heavy. We haven’t yet devised a plan, short of ditching the sedan in a SHTF scenario, and going as far as we can in the RV (not my preference, for sure). So while this issue is not yet resolved, we’ll have to come up with some kind of answer…

My grandparents had one , they liked it , but got rid of it in favor of a trailer that hooked up to my grandfathers dually pick up . That way , they just dropped it , and had the truck to go places in . It was nice , like an RV , but at least they could ditch it at a camp site , then move around freely .

Thank you sir. I’m not going to go into my line of work, because… well, frankly, it simply doesn’t matter, in the grand scheme of things. Let’s say that if the NSA wanted my help, I COULD fix their BILLION-DOLLAR facility in Utah… That’s no bullsh!t, because that’s what I do. I could get it online and running at 100%. But truth is that the NSA and the rest of the spy agencies disgust me. If they made me an offer I’d turn them down flat. Considering what a threat they are to Americans at large, they literally don’t have enough money to buy my loyalty. I COULD fix their problems, but the government is the enemy, so “F” ‘em. In the meantime, I’m flying out for an interview Sunday, so we’ll see.

Me: “… issues I’ve also run across include usability of the RV, entertainment, internet, sewage and water issues, weapon storage (forget about gun safes)… and the utter absence of privacy.”

OK, time to get back to what I promised to address… I apologize for being distracted, between the questions and the various thoughts that keep coming into my head as I write all this, I find myself going down bunny-trails, without hope of getting back to what I’m supposed to be doing.

1. Usability. It seems simple enough, having a cabin, a couple of beds, a small kitchen, dinette, bathroom and shower. For true SHTF scenarios, having all of these things in one place should feel like Heaven, yeah? Well….. NO. First of all, your living quarters become your living room for evening entertainment, your school room for teaching reading writing and arithmetic, your dining area, your entertainment area for guests, your sleeping area, your storage area for clothes, coats, food and bottled water, toys, spelling and math books, shoes and anything else that doesn’t fit under the floor in your (now too small) storage area. In other words, you’ll have so many competing interests for every inch of space, that you’ll drive yourself crazy trying to keep everything organized… much less CLEAN. The kitchen table is for eating, homework, and every other task that requires horizontal space. A small notepad/work desk is divided between holding a printer (for what personal and work documents I still need to use it for), additional homework, and when everyone else is occupied at the local pool or beach, I strap my reloading press to it to whip out maybe 50-75 rounds of ammo, before others start complaining, and I have to break down my gear. The takeaway from this is that NO SPACE IN YOUR RV/BUGOUT/HIDEY-HOLE WILL BE A SINGLE-PURPOSE LOCATION. Everything will be negotiable, every cubic inch will have different owners depending on when you can allocate time to do YOUR sh!t in it, and basically your interests will always come after everyone else’s. This is the reality of living in a small space, with multiple people.

***As an added point with regard to usability, a single bathroom, two girls and a wife means you’ll always have to find…. alternative locations… for doing your business, especially when #2 is in order. The girls and wife will demonstrate the amazing power of always occupying the toilet when YOU need to go, so be ready to be banished to the woods (or outdoor restrooms) when the question of who goes first comes up. If you decide to challenge this, do so knowing that IT WILL BE YOU CLEANING UP THE MESS. ***

2. Entertainment. When living in your house, you’d think that a sufficient supply of DVDs and I-Pads will provide enough entertainment to keep the kids out of your hair, right??? DREAM ON. Games using dice and cards will become very important as alternatives to the electronic gizmos that quickly kill the (precious) batteries under hard use. The magic of electronic toys quickly fades away, they get bored, and now you have to spend time with them… The takeaway is that you can’t rely on such toys to substitute for your time, attention and love.

The good news is that you’ll have the chance to play with your kids, talk with them, interact with them at a level you’d never imagined… the conversations you’ll have, the trust and love you have share with your kids will grow at an exponential level… and at the same time, your APPRECIATION for them will grow. It sounds utterly hokey to say such things, but that’s been my experience. My younger daughter, mildly autistic, was always… a bit reserved around me, even after all this time. The experiences we’ve had have removed most of those barriers, and she’s opened up a lot to me. So…. the circumstances have been unpleasant, but I can honestly say that I’m grateful for some of the lovely results that’ve happened as a result of the circumstances.

Finally, with regard to entertainment… since we’ve been in the same general area for the last three months, we’ve found several museums with kids sections for little ones…. dinosaur parks and play areas, science-based parks, and an entire amusement park (covering several hundred acres) geared toward very small kids… So we have enough variety to keep them busy and entertained, and even a little bit of leverage to keep them working on their homework…. math, reading and writing.

internet, sewage and water issues, weapon storage (forget about gun safes)… and the utter absence of privacy.”

INTERNET SERVICE: When mobile, internet access beyond your cell-phone is a difficult thing to obtain. I found AutoNet internet service, as an alternative to tying in to typical ISPs. Basically, AN allows you to access the net through cell-phone towers instead landlines or fiber, using 3G or 4G networks. Connections are relatively slow, but reliable enough to depend on for consistent service. My wife talks to her mother in Russia using Skype; that much bandwidth challenges the service, so while it isn’t ideal, it’s good enough for what we need. Data limitations before they throttle down bandwidth is 5GB/month for $50 flat fee… We use campground/freebie websites wherever possible to supplement our bandwidth usage.

SEWAGE AND WATER: Having 100 gallons of water onboard, plus 50 gallons of grey and black tanks, you would think your drinking-water needs are completely covered, right? Again, NO. The freshwater tank wont stay “fresh” for long; bacteria contaminate your tanks, making them taste strange (if not downright disgusting). Inline hose filters remove *some* contaminants and particulates, but unless you sterilize the tank consistently, it’s only a matter of time before it goes from being “clean” to being “suitable for showers and the toilets, but not drinkable.” After looking at several youtube videos on how to clean the tank, I’ll be trying to do so in the next few days, and we’ll see how it goes. In the meantime, we use bottled water… which (like fuel) weighs a lot, and takes up a TON of space. Which leads right back to the logistical issues of a SHTF vehicle/shelter/location: YOU MUST SECURE FRESH WATER ASAP!!! This will take up more space, weigh more and be in more demand, than any other commodity you can think of. And honestly, I’m still trying to devise a plan to accommodate for this factor… there are a lot of theoretical “solutions” available, but applying common sense relegates all the theoretical solutions to irrelevance. Against, still working on it. For a short (<1 month) scenario, the on-board water will be sufficient, especially if supplemented with any bottled/canned drinks. Beyond that………? No meaningful answers, yet.

SEWAGE ISSUES: If you have an RV, you need to know how to dump your grey and black tanks quickly and smoothly, BEFORE a SHTF scenario (detailed instructions and demonstrations on youtube for your enjoyment- watch them, they’re VERY helpful). The steps are simple, but if you screw up, you can have stinky problems that last for quite a while (making an already stressful situation even MORE unhappy). Make sure you have all the hoses and gear in order (and in good repair). Understand all the controls and valves, when to use them and what they do. And understand that YOU DO NOT USE NORMAL TOILET PAPER IN AN RV TOILET. Do like they do in the old-country of Europe, throw the dirty paper in a trash basket (and use it as kindling/fire-starter later). The normal paper will clog the pipes and get stuck on the level sensors of your black tank, making life even more interesting than it already is… Don’t bother with the fancy RV black-tank treatment bottles; a bit of Pine-Sol actually does a BETTER job of keeping the odors down and helping to dissolve the contents of the black tank.

Finally, with regard to black tank storage, NEVER assume that your tank will last for “X” number of days. The usage and frequency of the toilet(s) will vary with the whims of the women under your care. One time it may take almost two weeks to fill the tank, next time, only four days (after which people start to complain when the “black” stuff starts moving UP instead of DOWN)…. yeah, this HAS happened to me already…..

weapon storage (forget about gun safes)… and the utter absence of privacy.”

When we moved out of our house, my wife wanted to pack a LOT of sh!t that, frankly, was irrelevant. A cube that was 14″ on all sides, filled with shoes. Another box (same size) filled with hats… And while I found that annoying, what REALLY twisted me up, is that I’m the only one that actually wears hats! Beyond the few spots I commandeered for weapons storage, the internal cabin was left to her control, while the storage underneath was my sole domain. Into the storage underneath went a variety of ammunition in the sizes I use, as well as reloading gear including dies, powders, primers, etc. Total weight probably coming in around 1000 pounds, as a guess. (TIP: Ammo is bloody HEAVY!). Also underneath went my tools, chronometers, weather-station, laser range-finder, etc., etc. All the shooting gear that I didn’t want the kids to get their hands on and possibly break.

Inside the RV, you’ll find a LOT of little cubby-holes, hiding places for anything and everything. My RV has an old CB radio (which sucked @ss), which I replaced with a new, modified ham radio that covers the 10-12 meter range. I hollowed out the old radio (which is embedded into the dash) and now I have a storage compartment that I can access in <5 seconds, which is big enough to house a small-framed 9mm or .45ACP pistol. It looks completely innocuous, and so “old-school” crap, I doubt anyone would ever think that it was anything more than a crappy old radio I don’t use any more…

So in the hidey-holes are a variety of weapons, some of which can be easily found, some of which you’d have to tear the motorhome to see, if you didn’t know where it was. Long-guns are obviously harder to hide, but I confess I’ve not really looked hard to hide them, as I prefer to have them readily available. Hidden in an RV means “buried beyond easy retrieval.” I’ll have to consider my options later. As for now, my wife has hers (9mm that is the size of my palm, but laser equipped so POI=POA out to ~40 yards) and I have my .45, with the rest buried beyond prying eyes (or cops).

I’ll get to the privacy issue tomorrow…. As a hint, it’s now 1 AM as I finish up for tonight… the only time I get to read/write/think is when everyone else has gone to bed, is happily snoring away, and I’m still up. During the day, my time is NOT my own, and there’s no possibility to sit down and think about much of anything…. That’s the way it goes. So it’s time to wrap up for tonight, sneak past the kids to get to the coats at the front of the RV, grab a coat and hat so I don’t get soaked in the rain outside and have a couple of smokes. When I return, I have to sneak back in (making sure to quietly latch the front door completely to seal out the cold), shed the coat and hat, brush my teeth… and then sneak into bed, all without waking my wife (who will wake up if a mouse farts).

As for “inability to install a gun safe”, at least for “legal purposes” you could get a cheap Stack-On gun safe that is made to go between studs in a house, it locks and could cover your butt. There must be a way to be “legal”. If not actually secure… the cheap gun “safes” like that are not very secure.

"ROGUE ELECTRICIAN" Hoping to be around to re-energize the New World.....

Congrats on figuring out how to make going turtle work. It is a challenge.

Guns and reloading are always an issue. One novel press solution is the Huntington Die Specialty (HDS) Pack tool.
As far as safe storage goes, as well as possession of certain firearms/magazines, it is sticky. While we may not appreciate various local laws, one canot ignore them either. Especially if we live in the state in question.
Californias ban on almost anything useful does have an advantage, being in compliance there means you are in compliance pretty much everywhere else. Figure out how to secure your s5uff without a safe, it can be done, locking cabinets for example.

As to the cops, their question is worth a look.
One, their own safety after a low speed incident involving a weapon.
Secondly, they were trying to determine your rank, scumbag or good guy.
Thirddly, there is a jurisdictional issue, the little M4 I keep behind the seat and its magazines would get me in serious trouble in some states. Guns with certain compliance features are worth the time to avoid hassles.

Make sure you are in compliance with federal laws for/while traveling for safw storage as well as travelling through certain areas, national parks are particularly sticky. The other issue is CCw. Without a permit, that cubby for your .45 is trouble. Unless its empty and useless, and locked up. That rv may be your castle, but it has license plates and while mobile still is considered like a car in many respects.

There has been any number of mobile meth labs, and dope deliveries made using an rv. The family is cover, to hide the dope. And like it or not, a 40ish couple with kids does not normally go turtle. It attracts attention.

A thought, get yourself a small plot of land with an address, to make your “home”. Register your vehicle there, get new drivers licenses and CCw permits. Because of what you need, it doesn’t have to be complicated, just a parking space with power. Any number of small abandoned farms fit the bill. Check around as you travel. There is a difference between someone with no fixed abode, and a landowner on vacation (nut on a family quest).
Even if that plot is just in a more CCW friendly area that will give out a statewide CCW, that is still valid statewide.

Personally, a CA compliant arsenal still isn’t a bad chiice, me I’d be looking at things like an AR-180 (original) as its pre ban everywhere and should fall under the grandfather clauses, after all who’s to say how long you’ve had it. A rebuilt/refreshed M1 Garand also bears a look. An Ithaca 37 Deerslayer for hunting deer and hogs also makes a great defense gun, LAPD used them for decades. And no ban bs on them.
Handguns, a little more sticky thanks to the registration laws, but if your plot of land was in Wyoming, you could travel with certain of your non compliant guns provided you kept low cap mags handy for use there. Since you wouldn’t be importing them, just travelling.

I know of one traveller who keeps three guns handy, one a 1911 because it was his fathers. Legal everywhere thanks to low capacity and age. His daily carry gun, a Glock 26 9mm. Modern yet low caoacity. His third? Another Glock 9mm, an early Gen 2 gun with low capacity mags. His reasoning behind these?
Modern enough to be abuse and neglect resistent, parts and mags are everywhere, even the neutered mags. Simple enough that even a cop knows how to operate them in case something bad happens.

He regularly visits CA, family there but he keeps a couple of ammo cans near the border, cached. Inside a number of Glock magazines, he stops for a rest before entering CA, and swaps out his good high cap mags for low cap models amd leaves the hi cap mags in safety out of state.

His rifle? A Ruger Mini Thirty with a bag of 5 round mags, no evil features and he uses it to hunt hogs. As such its set up for close range fighting, minus the hi cap mags, also left in the ammo can.

He’s considering switching to an early G23 but isn’t sure how frame replacement later may effect him with the CA laws. Since the gun would no longer be pre-ban technically.

A survival author/speaker Brian Brawdy did something similar to you and your motorhome, his work may be worth searching out.
Good luck..

undeRGRönd : As for “inability to install a gun safe”, at least for “legal purposes” you could get a cheap Stack-On gun safe that is made to go between studs in a house, it locks and could cover your butt. There must be a way to be “legal”. If not actually secure… the cheap gun “safes” like that are not very secure.

True enough. This is a sticky area, to be sure. The space constraints inside my not-so-roomy motorhome make this a very unattractive option, unfortunately. As well, we still need something close-at-hand, should the need ever arise. My long guns are all relatively easy to get to, but the ammo is stored in different locations, so that’s fine. But pistols…?

The point of telling the story about my one unpleasant encounter with the freak and later with LEOs is to illustrate the fact that it’s best to keep your mouth firmly shut. There are even videos on youtube on how cops can twist around damn-near anything you say to use against you. The only real option available to you- especially if you don’t want your vehicle searched- is to say as little as possible. In my situation, I talked with them freely about the guy who was following us and the encounter. I did NOT tell them that the two choices I faced were either trying to use the cops to defuse the situation or escalate into a confrontation which I had no intentions of losing, with whatever force was necessary…. I’m a small guy, not skilled in fighting, so I rely on… other tools… to defend myself, if needs be. I think they recognized the fact that I wanted to de-escalate the situation, rather than let it get worse. Since I gave no indications that I had any weapons in the RV (despite their repeated prodding), they had no probable cause to search my vehicle, and that was that.

“Whirlibird: A thought, get yourself a small plot of land with an address, to make your “home”. Register your vehicle there, get new drivers licenses and CCw permits.”

I have a temporary residence (including street address) where my mail goes, and is forwarded to me. It’s still in California, however, so obtaining a CCW is unlikely, despite new court rulings that make issuance effectively “shall issue” within the state. That being said, when I obtain employment, the states that I’m looking at all have very relaxed laws, compared to CA, so that’ll help a lot. Right now it’s a waiting game.

As to the remainder of your comments, all my weapons are CA compliant. Beyond this point, I’m actually trying to avoid getting into a discussion about weapons. Everyone has their own their idea of what caliber or platform is best, and so we tailor our purchasing to match that ideal. But I will say, that having your entire SHTF arsenal with you, requires a significant amount of space, and needs to be carefully weighed against the capacity of your vehicle to carry that much. With full water and fuel tanks, all personal gear, weapons and ammunition, and everyone on-board, my RV is only 400# below it’s GVWR.